William Street Quarter Phase II

The second phase of William Street Quarter is the first totally privately funded affordable social housing scheme in the UK. Three mews streets lined with family-sized brick terrace houses define the perimeter of the site once occupied by the notorious Lintons Estate, while a central 10-storey tower terminates a mansion-block lined boulevard. Horizontally-banded precast concrete panels (a continuation of Laing O’Rourke’s Design for Manufacture and Assembly solution and a positive challenge to the stigmatisation of prefabricated housing) define the upper levels of the tower and mansion blocks, with projecting balconies, deep reveals and generously-sized windows helping to break down their mass. Variegated brick – used robustly – is the common uniting material on all lower levels. The first phase of the same masterplan produced jointly with Maccreanor Lavington for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham with private sector partner Laing O’Rourke is the already complete Anne Mews.